Albagli Zaliasnik > Santiago, Chile > Firm Profile

Albagli Zaliasnik > Firm Profile

albagli zaliasnik (az) www.az.cl is a Chilean law firm with more than 30 years of experience in the national legal market, recognized for its innovative and comprehensive approach to highly complex legal conflicts based on the needs of its clients, from of a team of professionals with an academic background and recognized experience in the field, in the more than 35 practice areas in which it provides strategic legal advice and consultancy.

The firm stands out for its methodological work model that combines prevention as a mechanism for anticipating operational and legal scenarios, as well as innovation and technology at the service of solutions to legal and regulatory challenges imposed by the digital economy, placing the client at the center of the process to provide personalized attention that translates into achieving results based on your legal needs.

Through its legal work, az is oriented towards enhancing the competitiveness of its clients, providing informed and expert advice that allows opportunities to be identified, as well as facing new rights and duties within the framework of a dynamic and changing global context. In this way, the legal services of the firm not only consider the traditional industrial sectors or items (financial institutions, mining, technology, construction, real estate and urban planning, education, public organizations, among others), but have also been extended to TECH industries such as: Agritech, Food Tech, Watertech, Fintech, Blockchain and gaming, consistent with the transformations that the global context is experiencing.

The view of collaborative work, specifically with the legal sector, has become the differentiating hallmark of az, given that the firm understands that this way of operating favors the culture of innovation, continuous improvement, quality of legal action and its transformation from the exchange and articulation with different actors in the environment.

The foregoing is evident in the generation of various strategic alliances in these 30 years of existence with entities such as G100, ACTI, ACCION EMPRESAS, International Trade Association, World Compliance Association, to pay taxes in international spaces and platforms for the exchange of information. knowledge, development of webinars, workshops, and others, as well as collaborating with the academic world and law firms from other countries, generating value for clients and promoting exchange to and from the country.

The work, experience, and specialization of az has been systematically recognized for its excellence and track record in its different areas of practice. In this context, since 2020, the legal firm has expanded its international legal activities through azMiami, a commercial hub that merges the legal and business realms. It is focused on advising and supporting clients in their soft-landing processes in the U.S., with a primary focus on real estate investors, and aiding various stakeholders in the venture capital ecosystem (startups, VC funds, and corporate venture capital (CVC) entities). The legal work is orientated to aboard issues as taxation, real estate, venture capital, and immigration. azMiami functions as a service platform, facilitated by a network of local partners, through which the firm delivers tailored solutions based on the legal needs of the Latam market.

Main Areas of Practice

-Corporate/M&A
The area is oriented to enhance the competitiveness of its clients, providing informed and expert advice that allows identifying opportunities, as well as facing new rights and duties within the framework of a dynamic and changing global context. The area has expansive experience in corporate counselling for domestic and foreign companies. Also, the team with experience in all kinds of M&A transactions, stands in the practice of corporate mergers and acquisitions, counselling clients in structuring, planning, and execution of local, regional, and global acquisitions, with particular focus on retail, food and beverage, energy, services, manufacture, infrastructure, and real estate. The area has represented sellers, buyers, venture capitalists, investment funds, private equity players and financial backers in various transactions, committed to its clients, advising, and accompanying them throughout the acquisition or sale process.
Key Clients: Betterfly Chile SpA, Unacem S.A.A., Rendalo Maq., Xiaomi, The Brands Club, WOM S.A., Azul Azul S.A. (Football club of the University of Chile), HCS, AXXA Group, Liquid Technologies, Banco do Brasil, Cushman & Wakefield, FOX Latin-American Channels, Vigatec, WOM, among others.

-Compliance
This area provides its clients advice and legal support from a comprehensive perspective, bringing together criminal, corporate, and regulatory compliance and incorporating all business areas in the identification and management of legal risks. az’s model focuses on crime prevention and strengthening corporate culture and governance, with an emphasis on ethics and integrity. The Compliance has extensive experience and academic training track records and aim to provide quality and excellence in advising companies from various national and global industries in their processes of identifying contingencies and designing risk matrixes, creating, and implementing crime prevention models under Law No. 20,393 an the new law No.21,595 on Economic Crimes, which came into effect in Chile on august 2023, in order to systematizes economic offenses and environmental violations, and, among other provisions, expands the criminal liability of legal entities.

In this context, az advice developing all internal policies, protocols and regulations required to implement a comprehensive compliance program. It also provides advice on the creation of prevention models for the Financial Analysis Unit, SERNAC compliance plans, Antitrust compliance plans, among others.

As part of the area’s growth, in 2022, az creates “Compliance Latam,” https://compliancelatam.legal/a collaborative workspace platform among companies from different countries in the compliance ecosystem. Its purpose is to exchange experiences and challenges in terms of culture, services, regulation, etc., with the aim of strengthening and continuously improving in the field. The community is led by prominent law firms in the region (including Argentina, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, Bolivia, Panama, Costa Rica, and the United States) and is composed of compliance officers, legal managers, consultants, auditors, and other relevant stakeholders in the compliance ecosystem, with the goal of collectively addressing the challenges of the subject matter.

Key Clients: WOM S.A., Grupo Grünenthal, Dimacofi, Gasmar, Puma, AES Andes, Actual, CBRE, Cushman & Wakefield, Verisure, SMU, La Polar, Socofar, Bodegas San Francisco, FGS, Betterfly, Embotelladora Andina and Didi Global, among others.

-Dispute Resolution: White Collar
The area is renowned for its expertise in all aspects of criminal counseling and the team has specialized in acting as a defense and plaintiff in economic and business crimes of a complex nature and with a high public connotation that generally involve allegations of fraud, bribery, economic crimes, as well as civil, tax, financial and environmental crimes. Effectively address clients’ cases with a multidisciplinary methodology capable of bringing any type of conflict to a successful outcome. Its characterized by the ability to handle complex and large-scale investigations before all criminal representation bodies, including the Investigative Police, Public Ministry, Criminal Courts, Appeals and Supreme Courts, as well such as the Constitutional Court, as well as negotiations with counterparties.

The legal action is oriented in the following areas: Acting as complainant on behalf of victims, both natural and legal persons; General advice on criminal matters; Defense of a legal person before all criminal prosecution bodies; Defense of natural persons before all bodies of criminal prosecution and Reports related to complex criminal situations. The clients come from areas such as: government, financial sector, telecommunications, among others, and the professionals have experience in dealing with cases with a high public connotation.

Key Clients: La Polar, Desarrollos Renovables S.A., Betterfly, Sartor Finance GroupFinance, Itelecom, National Chamber of Commerce (CNC), ENAMI (National Mining Company), WOM S.A, WIT Entertainmen, among others.

-Dispute Resolution: Litigation/Arbitration
The area is recognized for offering strategic and specialized advice to clients in a variety of highly complex matters and before different courts of justice. The work is focuses on a wide diversity of industries and legal matters based on a combination of creative strategies to achieve the objectives and favorable results towards clients, assuming their representation based on the associated legal actions. The hallmark in this practice area is knowledge of the industries in which clients operate, as well as the ability to handle large-scale, multi-institutional matters and negotiations. The advice and consultancy cover the full range of matters related to business matters and natural persons, including matters of civil liability, litigation, arbitration, and mediation. Legal action in this area involves different spheres in civil litigation and arbitration for complex conflicts; national and International fields, The advisory considers companies from sectors such as: infrastructure and energy, construction, gas, mining, concessions, retail, real estate, insurance, among other matters.

Key Clients: Nexus, Mutual de Seguridad, National Petroleum Company (ENAP, Grupo Unacem, among others.

-Intellectual & Industrial Property, Tech and Data
The area focuses its legal work on advisory or consulting in matters of intellectual property, privacy, security and information management, based on a permanent evaluation of the regulatory impact of the new products and technologies with a view to protecting the intangible assets of intellectual property and private information of the various clients in terms of cybersecurity corresponding to different items or productive sectors, among which the following stand out: Technology, Electronics, Telecommunications, Automobiles, Food and Beverages , Health, Pharmaceutical, Retail, among others. The legal action and distinctive hallmark of the firm is customer-focused attention, addressing issues related to digital and internet rights, copyrights, trademarks, patents, consumer protection, anti-piracy, anti-counterfeiting; licensing, industrial and business secrets, telecommunications, and unfair competition, based on their own needs with the purpose of paying taxes on the management and growth of their businesses.

Key Clients: Louis Vuitton, Walmart Inc., Hasbro, Netflix, WOM, Volvo, LG, Lemontech S.A., Patagon Valley, Mercedes-Benz AG, Monster Energy Company, LVMH, Moët Hennessy, Huawei, Harley Davidson.

-Life Science
This practice area has a multidisciplinary team that includes lawyers and technical professionals in the field, representing major national and international pharmaceutical companies. It provides legal and regulatory protection services in all areas of its economic activity. Likewise, the firm has extensive experience with the different authorities in the health field. Leading global publications recognize az’s knowledge of the pharmaceutical industry and the team is recognized for its versatility in implementing crime prevention programs and expertise protecting clients on antitrust issues. Regarding the services associated with this area of practice, there are: Biotechnology, pharmaceutical products, medical devices, cosmetics, and food processing regulation and litigation, Corporate Compliance, Chemical Law, Investigation, Research and development, Free Competition, Pharmaceutical Litigation, technology transfer and commercialization, advertising, public tenders, clinical trials, and intellectual Property.

Key Clients: Mega Labs, Sandoz, Abbott Laboratories, Grunenthal Laboratories Laboratorios Gador Limitad, Genomma Lab Chile S.A., DKT Chile SpA, Happ Labs SpA, Asociación Industrial de Laboratorios Farmacéuticos A.G, NotCo among others.

-Labour & Employment
The area is known and positioned throughout Chile and Latin America in the areas of litigation and collective bargaining specifically including dispute settlement, lawsuits, and labour claims for national and international clients. Offers advice on hiring processes, compensation, termination of the employment relationship, subcontracting, due diligence, corporate policies, as well as support for collective bargaining processes in companies from various sectors, specifically technology, pharmaceuticals, information sciences life, banks, oil and gas, among others. Its methodological orientation, supported by a preventive work methodology, focused on diagnosing, informing, and solving the problems of each client, going so far as to carry out the corresponding judicial defenses, allows a systematic look and follow-up towards the achievement of results.

Key Clients: Gasco, Aguas Andinas, Nokia, Flesan, Gasmar, Pizzareño (Etex Group), Fundación Integra, LDZ, among others.

– Public Law, Competition Law, and Regulated Markets
In public law, az provides advice in administrative law, constitutional litigation, governmental contracts, administrative claims, regulatory processes, and governmental advisory. Offers its clients comprehensive counselling and accompanies each client in everything, from risk prevention to conflict resolution with the Administration. In competition law and regulated markets, the legal firm The legal firm stands out for its experience and strategic perspective in addressing complex cases associated to different industries such as pharmaceutical, platforms and state-of-the-art technology, telecommunications, energy, retail trade, health insurance and construction sectors, among others.

Key Clients: La Polar, WOM S.A., Nexus Chile S.A, Abbott Laboratories, National Petroleum Company (ENAP), SQM, Bodegas San Francisco Limited, MOWI, La Polar, among others.

-Telecommunication/ Media/ Technology (TMT)
TMT’s legal practice is approached from the Intellectual Property, Technology, and Data area, from the Compliance area, and from the Public Law and Regulated Markets team. In this context, TMT addresses the issues from a multifaceted approach, providing legal advice and support to various companies in this field, considering the breadth of administrative and judicial matters in which TMT is involved, as well as conflict management from a sanctioning and regulatory perspective. Among the services provided by the area are regulatory advice in telecommunications; regulatory assistance before the Undersecretary of Telecommunications; assistance in project management and permits in the construction of data centers; software and licensing matters; regulatory analysis of data protection, contracts, and data compliance; TMT-specific intellectual property; and administrative litigation processes.

Key Clients: WOM S.A, VOLVO Chile, LG Electronics Chile, Betterfly, DIMERC S.A.
Banco Santander S.A., Verisure, Lemontech, among others.

-Tax
The tax area provides comprehensive advice, aimed at meeting the commercial objectives of its clients within the framework of its experience to quantify legal and regulatory risk in a preventive manner, maintaining short, medium, and long-term needs in this issue. The preventive and systematic vision of legal risk management, together with the practical and full-service style, allows az to face business training and education. Offers fully integrated tax services, including strategic tax planning, investment tax modelling, financing tax advice, tax structuring on acquisition, divestment and sale of companies, intra-group restructuring and family offices, transfer pricing, dispute resolution and estate planning.

Key Clients: the clients are from different sectors such as financial services, technology/electronic industry, real estate, venture capital, family offices, among others.

-Real Estate
The area has experience in the development of different real estate projects, both nationally and internationally. Advises and supports clients throughout the development process of their real estate projects, from the transaction to the provision of specialized services in planning, construction, and dispute resolution, from a multidisciplinary team of professionals, which promotes a Personalized and quality attention, aimed at addressing the legal needs and specificities required by each client. Under a comprehensive and strategic work model, focuses its legal actions on the issues of buying and selling, leasing, storage, investment, financing, and others, advising on matters of urban, environmental, tax, corporate, regulatory, and labor law related to the challenges of each real estate project. These elements allowed az to expand its legal work in real estate matters abroad. Currently, they advise clients who primarily seek to invest in the United States, specifically in Miami and Peru.
Key Clients: Flesan Activos Inmobiliarios, FAI Sur, Inmobiliaria Amsal, SENTO Inmobiliaria, Grupo Rezepka, Grupo Araucana, Ralei Development Group, Inmobiliaria Tarragona, Sociedad Constructora Rupanco, Grupo Generaxxion, Inmobiliaria 21 de Mayo, Siena, Grupo Armas, LNK Constructora, among others.

ProBono Work
albagli zaliasnik is one of the founding members of the Pro Bono Chile Foundation and a signatory of the Pro Bono Network of the Americas, which is supported by the Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice in New York, USA. As such, Pro Bono matters hold a central place in the firm’s values. This is how az supports and promotes the provision of Pro Bono services by its partners and associates. One of the firm’s core values is to promote the principles of diversity and non-discrimination. These principles are realized through internal efforts, including a Diversity and Inclusion Committee established in 2019, as well as Pro Bono initiatives with the firm’s goal of supporting and resolving legal issues that impact the community.
Through Pro Bono work, all the lawyers in the office have the opportunity to provide representation in cases that require access to justice, offering the special attention and emphasis that these cases need due to their social significance. It also enables fulfilling one of the essential tasks of a lawyer, which is to work “for the good,” thus facilitating access to justice for individuals, non-governmental organizations, and vulnerable groups or sectors in need.

Lawyer Profiles

Photo	Name	Position	Profile
	Ariela Agosin	Partner	View Profile
	Rodrigo Albagli	Founding Partner / Managing Partner	View Profile
	David Ancelovici	Director of the Tax Group	View Profile
	Jorge Arredondo	Partner and Director of the Labor and Employment Group	View Profile
	Stephanie Cruz	Legal & Business Director	View Profile
	Francisca Franzani	Compliance Director	View Profile
	Francisco Fuentes	Litigation Director	View Profile
	Eugenio Gormaz	Partner and Director of IP, Tech and Data Group	View Profile
	Dafne Guerra	Senior Associate	View Profile
	Alejandro Montt	Energy & Natural Resources Director	View Profile
	Alvaro Rosenblut	Partner and Director Corporate Group	View Profile
	Antonio Rubilar	Director of Public Law and Regulated Markets	View Profile
	Gabriel Zaliasnik	Founding Partner	View Profile

Press Releases

Compliance Latam – Novel platform launched by Albagli Zaliasnik with presence in 15 Latin American jurisdictions.

Legal Briefings

• Doing business in Chile

  This guide has been prepared by Albagli Zaliasnik with the objective of providing our domestic and foreign clients – as well as the law firms worldwide that may need assistance for their clients – with a precise tool that summarises the essential aspects for the formation and development of commercial activities in Chile.